


Que Sera, Sera!

by LavandeReve



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Women, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Humor, Genderbending, Humor, Kid Fic, Language, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Original Character(s), Please enjoy!, Pre-Reborn atm, Women Being Awesome, and, because I just can't stop making characters into girls oof, but at least that gives us, this is also just my oc being dragged kicking and screaming through the madness that is KHR, will gradually build towards the canon time line and beyond!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavandeReve/pseuds/LavandeReve
Summary: Shinonome Diaki didn't know that befriending his bullied classmate would lead to him joining the mafia, self-combusting after being shot by a baby, being kidnapped and almost killed multiple times, traveling to a dystopian future, meeting his ancestor a la "Assassins Creed", fighting against a literal fucking ghost witch and a another baby that could warp through space and time. But if he had known, he would've had some grievances. Alas, this was his fate and if him risking life and limb to protect said classmate was decreed by the stars themselves, then so be it.Besides, the effort to make a new friend was much too troublesome.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	1. Troublesome Girl

**Author's Note:**

> This is the official rewrite of my old fic "An Obsessive Mafioso Love Story"! The first chapter is pretty similar to the last one, but things will start playing out differently as the chapters go on. I hope you can enjoy it!  
> Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or its iterations! I'm only here to entertain~

_**Chapter 1: Troublesome Girl** _

* * *

If I were given the chance to tell my past self something, it would be to _not_ give a shit about other people.

Become an anti-social hermit bastard and not give a flying fruity frick how people felt!

Close your heart to others and walk away from those in need! Just turn a blind eye towards anything and everything and walk on the simple path of life for the love of all that is **_holy_**! Your sanity and hospital bill expenses **_depended_ **on it.

Unfortunately, I had no time traveling abilities that would allow me to do so. Well, I mean I know people who _did_ have some, but I had enough of breaking the laws of space and time to last me a life time thank you very much.

Now I know what you're thinking. No, I'm not on drugs _or_ having a psychotic break. That shit's old news, been there done that it don't matter. Right now, we're talking the truth, the whole truth, and _nothing_ but the truth. I am **_NOT_** stressing this enough people!

Ahem, now then. To explain my little _situation_ to you all, I'm going to have to have to take you a trip down memory lane; a few years in the past to when I was just a six year old snot-nosed brat. And no, you have no say in the matter. Here's your ticket, your bags, and your snacks. Now hurry up get on the damn train, cause it's gonna be a loooong ride.

* * *

I was always known as that really tall kid in class. You know the one who was so tall they looked like they were two grades ahead of you??? Yeah, that was me and with me being so tall I guess some of the kids were a little intimidated by my size and rarely tried to interact with me. They didn't bully me or anything like that (most likely ‘cause they were afraid I’d squash them at even the slightest provocation) and if we were doing a little group project or something of the like, they wouldn't complain. They just weren't vibing with the fact that I was much more bigger than them.

I remember myself not really caring about the (admittedly depressing) fact that the other kids were too afraid to come near me. Socializing with others wasn't exactly me forte, so it saved me from a lot of awkward/embarrassing moments that would haunt me into my adult years. But it was only natural for a kid to feel a little lonely and sad, no matter how anti-social they were. It wasn't my fault that the men in my family were unnaturally tall for the average Japanese male (averaging about 2 meters and above almost as soon as we hit _puberty_ ), but genetics! What can you do about it?

Anyway, because of that I spent most of my time by myself. Watching anime, drawing random crap, eating snacks, and trying to use as little calories as possible by just laying around; that was my daily routine.

...At least, it was before a particular moment that happened in 1st grade. This is where I believe all this mess started and how my life began it’s wild journey.

It was a nice Friday morning during recess. The rain from earlier had passed and I was sitting at a bench and drawing a kick-ass gun/sword in a small sketch book my mom got me for my birthday a few weeks back. As I was drawing, I heard a commotion going on over by the sandbox and a girl crying out. I couldn't very well concentrate on drawing with all that damn noise, so natural I went over to tell whoever was making it to shut up. That was when I stumbled upon a unsavory scene.

Three third grade boys were picking on a familiar looking girl. Her name was Sawada...something, something. I only knew her last name and her demeaning nickname that the class dubbed her when she managed to trip on thin air when she tried to introduce herself in front of the class. Now that alone wouldn't be enough to be called "no-good" on your first day of school, but when someone manages to trip into an arts and crafts table, spilling paint and glitter all over the place while losing her shoe in the process and having it nail the teacher in the face, they tended to get a reputation. (I must admit, her aim was impeccable, even if she didn't intend to give our teacher a black eye.)

Naturally, her clumsiness didn't stop there and as the weeks went by with her stumbling bad luck, the nick-name was here to stay. But since I felt that calling her that would make me a jackass, I decided to just refer to her as Sawada and leave it at that. The other kids had no such reservations though and made it a daily ritual of theirs to tease Sawada at least once a day. It was a gross habit for sure, but I couldn't really judge since I did nothing to help her from all the bullying and teasing. She was just some kid I barely knew, so why should I get involved and make trouble for myself? It's not like I was scared I would get bullied as well if I stood up for her, but I'd rather not make my already ostracized self feel even more out of place.

...Still, it _did_ leave a bad taste in my mouth when I would see those damn, large brown eyes well up with tears. I mean, who on earth liked to see people cry? Sickos maybe, but me? To troublesome.

To at least make her feel a little better, I would draw her little pictures of girly shit like flowers and bunnies and leave it on her seat before she'd notice. It probably didn't make her day, but it made me feel a little less crappy when I'd see the small, yet curious smile on her face when she'd looked at one of my pictures. I guess it made me feel like I was doing something instead of nothing, but a few drawings wouldn't shoo the bullies away and I knew that.

So, as I stood there watching as the boys surrounded Sawada, that bitter feeling returned ten-fold. Hell, it just wasn't fair. Why did she have to be teased for something she couldn't control? Yeah, we were kids back then and we didn't have filters or consciences to hold us back when it came to messing with others, but that didn't excuse us from doing mean crap to others.

"Hey Dame-Tsuna, what's with the dumb doll?" One of the boys asked, pointing at a stuffed lion in her arms. Sawada flinched at the question and looked down at the ground, biting her lip.

"U-u...u-um..." She mumbled quietly and one of the boys frowned, annoyed.

"Ha? Speak up I can’t hear you!" He demanded making her cringe at the volume and me frown even more. Jeez, he didn’t have to yell at a her like that...

"His…His name…is…is Natsu..." She managed to whisper out, trembling softly while clutching the toy tighter in her arms.

Another boy got closer to her and crossed his arms while scowling. "Dame-Tsuna why do you talk like that? Are ya stupid or something?"

"Of course she’s stupid! She's Dame-Tsuna after all!" At that, the three boys burst into a fit of laughter as if the kid had told the joke of the century.

I clenched my fist when I saw her tear up. Dammit, this was _so_ annoying and their obnoxious laughter was _not_ making me feel better. I mean really??? The shit wasn’t even clever, though kids have been known to laugh at pretty much anything, funny or not.

However this was no laughing matter, and what happened next wiped away any residual sense of amusement in me. One of the kids snatched the toy out of Sawada's arms and I could see her eyes widened in panic.

"H…H-Hey!" She yelled reaching for the stuffed doll, but the kid held it up out of her reach with a mean smile on his face. His friends mirrored his expression and began to toss it back and forth to each other like a demented game of monkey in the middle.

"Give…Give Natsu back!" She pleaded frantically while they just laughed, throwing the toy around carelessly.

"Haha! Keep away!" One shouted, dangling toy in front of Sawada before tossing it to his friend.

"P…P-Please…please give him back!"

"Why should we?"

"Hey Kou, over here!"

I stood there, disgust curdling in my gut like spoiled milk. Did they really have nothing better to do than terrorize her like this? Ugh, I couldn't stand to watch anymore.

I turned to leave and I distinctly remember thinking of what I could draw for her to cheer her up after such a crappy day. I barely took a step when it happened.

Sawada bit her lip, only hesitating for a moment before she threw caution the wind and launched herself at the kid who had her toy. All of us were shocked, not expecting the usually timid girl to go on the offensive. I guess anyone could grow a backbone when in came down to it.

Unfortunately, her spout of bravery led to an unexpected consequence. Sawada tackled the kid and they both fell to the ground, but because of that he lost his grip, leading the toy to fly out of his hands. It flew through the air and _right_ into a nearby mud puddle, it’s gold faux fur soaking up the muddy brown gunk like a sponge. I couldn't believe what just happened and by the look on Sawada's face, she couldn't either.

She let out a strangled gasp and dashed towards the puddle, falling into it on her own hands and knees, careless of getting wet or dirty. She hovered over the thing, trembling either from shock or the biting chill of the puddle. The action was already sad and pathetic enough, but it was nothing compared to the heart broken expression on her face. She looked as if she had lost an actual pet; hell her only _friend_. I realized, with a heavy heart, that may have well been the case.

You know what? Screw this. Enough was _enough_ ; this crap had gone too far.

I began to make my way towards the four, the three idiots not noticing me coming towards them as they just laughed despite the fact that they just broke someone's heart so carelessly.

"Heh, serves you right Dame-Tsuna!” The ass-hole kid who Sawada tackled glared down at her with a nasty smirk. “If you hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have dropped your stupid toy.”

"What the heck are you crawling through the mud for?" His friend laughed while pointing at her crying form.

"Hah! Guess she really is stupid after all!"

_"Well if she's stupid, then what the heck does that make you?"_

The three stopped laughing at once and turned, almost robotically, towards me. As soon as they met my eyes, they turned pale and started trembling as much as Sawada was.

"O…O-Oh, crap! It’s Shinonome!" One of them yelled as he huddled closer to his friends. In the corner of my eye, I saw Sawada staring at me in shock, appearing to be just as freaked out at the sight of me as the other three were. Her reaction caused me to eternally sigh in annoyance. How troublesome...

"What the heck are you morons doin'?" I snapped at them, staring them down with as much disdain as I could. I’ve been told that another thing that kept my classmates away from me were my ever-present scowl. I had inherited my mother's dark grey eyes, but the fact that since I'm pretty much blind as a bat even _with_ glasses on lead me to squint all the damn time. This, apparently, enhanced my "menacing" looks as everyone thought I was glaring instead. My father called it my _"Hawk eyes"_ whatever the hell that was supposed to mean...

Let's just say that this, my height, and the venom in my voice did nothing to soothe their fears and Sawada even gave a high-pitched _"Hieee!"_ from the side.

One of the boys, who looked the least scared of the three (though still shaking and pale), walked towards me with a challenging glare of his own.

"What's it to you Shinonome?!" The little crap barked at me making me raise an eyebrow. Wow, tough kid...that or stupid...most likely the latter...

"Well since you spam emails were makin' a lot of noise, I decided to see what was goin' on." I explained calmly and smirked when I saw the indignant red flood his face.

"We're not morons _moron_ and we're just playing with Dame-Tsuna, right guys?" He demanded his friends who were rapidly shaking their heads in denial before nodding when they saw that he turned to look at them.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, obviously not believing him. "’Cause it looked like you were makin' her cry instead."

"Dame-Tsuna's just a cry baby like usual!" He challenged with a smirk, ignoring his friends who were trying to get him to shut up in fear that he'll anger me which, much to their misfortune, he was succeeding at.

I narrowed my eyes and warning began to bleed into my tone. "You shouldn't force people to do stuff they don't wanna do, it makes you look like a jackass."

"Shut up! You ain’t the boss of me!" He shouted back while his friends seemed close to knocking him out if he didn't shut the hell up soon.

"I can do whatever I want! I don't care if Dame-Tsuna doesn't want to play or not cause she's _stupid_ and everyone knows that stupid people have to listen to smart people like me!" He barked and when I heard Sawada sniffle and whimper at the comment, my already limited patience snapped.

"Oh really?" I gritted out and even the little idiot seemed to realize, much too late, that he should’ve kept his mouth shut. "Well if that's the case, this makes my jobs a whole lot easier."

I grabbed the kid from the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to my face. I don't know why I was getting so annoyed and angry, but his attitude _really_ pissed me off. There were many people like this kid in the world and though I was still young, even I could tell when people were being unjust 'cause they felt that they could do whatever they want. You shouldn't just be mean and rude to people just 'cause you _thought_ you had the right to.

So, as I stared down at the little jerk, I felt that the least I can do was help Sawada out, even if it was just a little bit. Besides, she showed some spunk despite being so scared, so that was something I could respect.

"Listen here you unnecessary movie sequel." I growled, glaring straight at him. "I get that you think you're special, but you're really just a loser like the rest of the idiots at this school. And since you're so slow, I will say this simply enough for you to understand."

I dropped the kid and he fell against his friends who were paler than freshly washed hospital sheets. Sawada was still sitting in the mud puddle, wide eyes red from crying. The pitiful sight only solidified my next choice of words. She flinched in surprise when I pointed to her and I began to speak in a strong tone.

"Sawada here has just as much brains as the rest of us, so I _highly_ suggest you listen to her when she says stop. So, the next time you decide to go against her wishes, you'll have to answer to me. _Got it!_?" The two boys nodded and when they saw that their idiot friend wasn't, they forced him to nod as well by pushing his head up and down.

"Good, now piss off already." And they didn't need to be told twice as they picked up their friend who was protesting and made a bee line towards the classrooms. Blissful silence finally filled the air after they left and I sighed with a mix of annoyance, relief, and exhaustion. Good grief, that was so troublesome...

After a few more moments of savoring the peace a quiet, I turned towards Sawada who yelped in fear, looking at me like I was a monster who was going to eat her or something. She was also still sitting in that puddle, much to my annoyance.

"Oi, oi…" I grunted out with a raised eyebrow. "What are you still sittin' in that puddle for? Get out of it before you catch a cold or somethin’!"

Sawada scrambled at my suggestion (which sounded more like a demand now that I think about it) and stood up, shaking and staring fearfully at me. I walked towards her and she took a step back, not that it made much of a difference since her small steps were nothing against my longer gait. She looked down when I was a few feet from her and fiddled with the end of her dress with one hand, holding Natsu in the other.

Despite her obvious fear, it seemed as if she wanted to say something to me as her eyes nervously fluttered about, looking everywhere _but_ at me. I waited semi-patiently, knowing how much of a nervous wreck Sawada could be and how long it might take for her to even work up the nerve to stare at me for more than three seconds.

Finally, after a few more minutes, she spoke.

"...U...U-Um..." She began, shuffling her feet and looking up at me apprehensively. I urged her on with a nod and she quickly looked back down. "Um, I...th…th-thank you...for…for helping me!" She finally announced, bowing at a perfect 90-degree angle.

I blinked in surprise at her gratitude. I didn't really do anything spectacular after all. I just told some punks to back off. There's still the whole school who went out of their way to tease her, plus the other kid who didn't seem to like me telling him what to do. Well, whatever floats her boat...

"You're…welcome I guess?" I ended up saying and she looked up at me with a look of not just fear, but curiosity as well.

"U…U-Um!" She began before blushing at her outburst and looking down again which was now starting to get a little annoying.

" _Yes?_ " I stressed slightly, and she flinched at the tone. Damn, didn't mean to give her attitude. God knows she deals with that enough already...

"...Why...why did you help...me?" She asked, and I stared down at her hunched form. Hm…that’s a good question. why did I indeed?

"Dunno, they just pissed me off." I simply answered while stuffing my hands into my pockets. She looked up at me again from under her brown bangs and twiddled her thumbs.

"O…O-Oh..."

"They also shouldn't mess with you like that." I added, and I smirked slightly at the shocked look that covered her face.

"E…E-Eh?!"

"You did nothin' wrong for you to be picked on like you are now and they don't have the right to even if you did. My mom told me that the only person allowed to judge you is you, no one else, so don't listen to those morons. I’m pretty sure you're way more capable than most of the kids in our class anyway if that tackle of yours says anything."

Sawada stared at me, round eyes glistening, before tears suddenly started to fall down her face at an _alarming_ rate. Panic hit me like a soccer ball to the gut. Oh, no. No, non, nein! _Why_ was she _crying_?! Did I accidentally say something stupid or rude? Aw crap, I wasn’t used to dealing with people _crying_! My panic grew as she began to rub her eyes and started to hiccup between her sobs.

"O…O-Oi! Why the heck are you cryin'?" I asked, scowling down at her with twitchy eyes. Er, maybe her tears had an off button or something?!

"B…B-Because! I-" She babbled between her hiccups. "Only mama has told me stuff like that a…a-and-!"

In my panic, I vaguely remembered about being surprised that no one had come over from all the commotion. I mean, I know that the sandbox wasn't the most popular spot on the playground, but someone was bound to come over to see who was bawling their eyes out. Man Sawada sure did have a pair of lungs in her.

"I- I’m just so ha…ha-happy! _Waah~!_ " At that, I began to relax again. Oh, thank god, these were happy tears!

"Jeez~ that’s all? You almost gave me a heart attack!” I sighed before combing through my hair with my fingers. “Look, just…stop cryin' alright? You’re gonna give yourself _and_ me a headache!"

"I can't!" She cried back and I groaned in frustration. Gah, so damn troublesome!

A few minutes later of awkward, one-sided shouting and crying, things started to calm down to the point where Sawada was just sniffling. I was standing with my back turned to her and my arms crossed, not exactly sure what to do. Her tears had finally stopped, but what now?

I looked back at her from the corner of my eye and saw that she was still shivering. I frowned, realizing that she must have been cold standing in a dress soaked in mud on a chilly day like this. I took off my jacket that I was wearing and handed it to her. She looked at it in surprise before looking at me. I turned away, awkwardly coughing into my fist.

"...You looked cold..." When she still didn't take it, I growled slightly and waved it in front of her face. "J…J-Just hurry up and take the stupid jacket already!"

She "epped!" before quickly grabbing the jacket and putting it on. It was clearly too big for her, swaddling her like a blanket. I could help but snort at the sight, and she looked up at me curiously.

"You’re so small..." She pouted at my frankness and I shrugged. Hey, it's the truth-

The bell for the end of recess rung, startling us both. Geez, it felt like this recess lasted forever! I looked towards Sawada who was giving me a cautious stare, as if I were a dog she was hesitant to approach. I held out my hand.

"Well? What are you waitin' for?" I quirked an eyebrow, looking at her expectantly. "Let's go before we're late." She stared at me a bit more and I shrugged before dropping my hand with a sigh. I can’t blame her for still being wary of me but standing here and staring at each other was just gonna waste time. Plus, I still had to get my stuff from the bench.

I made to walk away before I heard a flustered _"Wait!"_ and felt something grab my shirt. I turned around to look at Sawada who stared back at me with a red face. "U…U-Um! What's…your name?"

I blinked before realizing that I hadn't even introduced myself. It seems she knew me about as much as I knew her.

"...Shinonome. Shinonome Daiki."

She stared at me in awe a bit more (probably at the fact that I answered her instead of ignoring her) before her face blossomed into a sparkly smile, the apple of her cheeks colored a ruby blush.

"I'm...Sawada Tsunayoshie, but you can just call me Tsuna!" Wow. First off, that was a long ass name (and I though mine had too many syllables). Secondly, I think this is the first time I ever seen her smile like that. It was bright and natural and leagues better than all the little smiles I saw her have when she looked at my pictures _combined_.

Looking at it almost compelled me to give my own, especially when she tentatively grabbed my hand. It was cold to the touch, but her grip was strong and solid…

When we both got back to the classroom, I had told the teacher that Sawada fell as explanation for her less than orderly appearance. One call to Sawada's mom later, and she was leaving school early. Good, since the more time she got to rest from this wild day, the better…

* * *

After that day, Sawada and I had formed a type of blooming camaraderie. She was still really shy around me and constantly stuttered which was annoying at first, but I did find myself enjoying her company after some initial awkwardness. Plus, her mom's cooking was to die/kill for (especially compared to my mom's charred concoctions). She also somehow found out that I was the one who drew all those pictures for her and would ask to watch me draw or even request a picture or two whenever she could drum up the confidence.

It was like a trade. She would keep me company and I would keep kids from teasing her when I could. They still messed with her, but it was much less severe than before now that the threat of incurring my wrath was possible. That one jerk from before was one of the small group that still went out of their to try and make Sawada's life miserable (honestly, did these morons have nothing better to do?).

He would constantly try to challenge or one up me to get revenge for "dEr, _tELling hIm whAT to dO"_ and I found myself disliking him more and more as the days passed.

I felt like his one-sided rivalry with me would last forever until one certain day when me and the so called "older" kid were having another stupid argument. I guess I said something that seemed to really piss him off and before I knew it, he chucked a ball he had in his hands at me in anger. It was so sudden that I didn't have time to dodge and it hit my right in the face.

I fell to the ground, staring up in a slight daze. I felt something warm trickle out my nose and moved my hand to see that I was having a nosebleed. Well I'll be damned.

All the other kids who crowded around us began to freak out at all the blood and even the kid seemed to feel a bit guilty at what he did. Our teachers came over to check on and scold us both for fighting. Oh yeah, scold the one who got injured!

I later went the infirmary and was laying on the bed humming a song from an anime I watched with my older sister. I was just about to take a nap when a sudden "BANG!" from the infirmary door being slammed open and a teary cry of "SHINONOME-KUN!" broke me from my stupor.

I sat up to see who had called me, but a blur of brown slammed into my stomach and almost knocked me off the freakin' bed. I felt the breath leave my lungs from the spine crushing hug Sawada was currently giving me.

"M…M-My _ribs_! Sawada what are you doin' ?!" Sawada was trembling in my lap and I could feel her tears seeping through my shirt. What was up with her now? Was she bullied again ‘cause I wasn't with her? Was it that asshole? Geez, I'm gone for an _hour_ and he's already back on his bull!

I sighed, sitting up slightly and wincing as Sawada's grip tightened around my mid-section.

"Sawada?" I began, getting sniffles in response. "Oi, Sawada. What the heck's wrong with you?"

She sniffled and cried some more before giving me a muffled answer as her face was still buried in my stomach.

"What have I said about talkin' in ways no one can understand you?" I deadpanned, and she stilled at the reminder.

"C’mon, get off me." I asked in a softer tone and after a few more moments, she nodded her head before moving away and looking at me with teary eyes.

"Now once again, what’s wrong? You okay?" She looked close to crying again, but this time she rubbed the tears away before they fell.

"I…I-I should be asking you that! Someone from class said you were hurt and b…b-bleeding!" She finished with a loud cry covering her eyes as she began to bawl. "I w-w-was so worried! Waah~!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing at all the noise. This was so troublesome…

I removed my hand from my face, raised it up, and gave her a quick knock on the head, making her stop crying with a yelp. Bewildered, she held her hands where I hit her while I stared back at her blankly.

"Quit all that cryin', ‘fore you give yourself and me a headache." I stated blandly, and she looked down with a pout.

"I…I-I’m sorry..." She mumbled. “But you didn’t have to hit m…m-me…”

I sighed, rolling my eyes before giving her an awkward pat on the head. I looked away to stare out the window and though I couldn't see her face, but I could practically feel her curious eyes on me.

"...Look, there's nothin' wrong with me alright? I just had a little nosebleed is all. That jerk kid threw a ball at me and I couldn't get out of the way in time, but I'm fine now so just stop cryin' already."

“…”

At her odd silence, I looked back to see that she was looking up at me with that silly, awed expression on her face before it blossomed into another happy smile that had become much more common. I found myself smiling at the fact before lying back down on the bed. I kept my eyes closed for a bit before opening them to look at Sawada. She blinked curiously as I patted the side of the bed impatiently.

"Are you just gonna stare at me all day or are you goin’ to lie down?" Her face grew bright red at my question and she began to flail her arms around in alarm.

"W…W-What?!" She yelped in shock, holding her hands to her red cheeks. "I can't! That's way too embarrassing a…a-and-!"

"What are you freakin’ out for? I just asked if you wanted to lay down too." I shrugged, before yawning and turning on my side. “But if you don’t wanna, I ain’t gonna make you.” I personally felt that it was a much better alternative than going back to class. Oh well...

I closed my eyes and waited for her to leave, but to my pleasant surprise I felt her move towards me until she had her face buried in my back. I felt her warmth seep through my clothes and began to relax even more. It was oddly comforting…

"...Shinonome-kun?" Sawada whispered as I began to fall asleep.

"Hn?" I mumbled. It should be around nap time right now...

"...We're...f…f-friends...right?"

I played her words around my sluggish mind for a bit before answering.

"...Yeah..." And I meant it. Sawada was my first actual friend and I think it's safe to think the same applied to her. So yes, I do think we're friends, albeit weird ones.

I could feel Sawada's happy aura from my answer and I smiled, slowly fading to dream land.

"I’m…glad...” She settled in closer and I could feel her happy smile on my back. “Hehe~♡"

And so began my bizarre adventure! My young and ignorant former self had no idea of the insanity that would become his everyday life all because of one little girl. Still, like metal to a magnet, Sawada just seemed to draw people in no matter what.

Oh, and if anyone where to ask why the kid who threw the ball at me had to leave early the next day 'cause someone knocked him out with a soccer ball, then keep asking ‘cause you won't get an answer. I plead the fifth; My lips are _sealed._

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Ciao~♡** _


	2. Getting to Know Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daiki and Tsuna gradually get to know each other better!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or its iterations! I'm only here to entertain~

**Chapter 2: Getting to Know** **Each Other**

* * *

Being friends with Sawada Tsunayoshie was truly an experience. Whether it was a good one or not was up to the perspective of the individual. Never the less, it was an experience for sure.

Sawada was, by no means, a social butterfly. The only other friend she had before she met me was a stuffed animal, so it's understandable that her skills in the social interaction department were a bit...lacking (not that I could talk).

But~ I digress.

Despite all these setbacks, it wasn't hard to interact with her all that much. We were both socially awkward and loners so naturally we got along pretty well, especially after we got to know each other better.

* * *

**_Cooking with Sawada Mama_ **

* * *

I made my way up to Sawada's house with both of my hands in my hoodie pockets. Sawada (after changing so many different shades of red that only professional painters could name them all and stuttering out unintelligible gibberish for five minutes) invited me to her house to hang out. It was rather bold for her despite the amount of time and effort it took to speak something close to a language I could understand. It was also the first time I've ever been to another person’s house and I was surprisingly excited at the prospect. I said yes, trying to keep it as cool and collected as possible, and braced myself for the spur of the moment, joy induced hug attack she launched towards me soon after.

I stood in front of the door, feeling a little jittery, and rang the doorbell after a few moments of hesitation. A soft chime ranged out and the telltale small, yet hurried pitter patters of footsteps could be heard behind the door...followed by a sudden loud _bang_ , like someone dropped something heavy on the ground, and a high pitch yelp ringing out soon after.

"..." I could feel myself sweat drop a little. I wonder what could've _possibly_ happened.

A few moments later the footsteps resumed, albeit at a slower pace, before they stopped at the door. Silence...then the soft slide of the door came after. In the small gap of the door, I could make out a pair of large brown eyes looking at me in curiosity, nervousness, and joy.

I stared at the familiar eyes for a few moments before sighing and giving them a level stare. "Now Sawada, we can stand out here all day in front of your porch, or you could be a good host and let me in." Her eyes widened and a shocked gasp left her unseen lips before she slammed the door open the rest of the way.

"S…S-Shinonome-kun! I’m glad you could make it to my house!" She chirped before quickly looking down at her shoes that were tapping the ground rhythmically. "Why don't you uh, come in!"

“Sorry for the intrusion…” I nodded before walking into her house with her hurriedly moving to the side. I looked around as she closed the door behind me, admiring the simple, yet cozy spacings and furnishings. It reminded me somewhat of my own house.

Sawada shuffled before pulling on my shirt to gain my attention. She looked up at me nervously. "U…U-Um are you hungry? I could ask Mama to make us something..."

I was gonna answer, but a loud grumbling roar coming from my stomach did it instead. Sawada stared at me in surprise before started to giggle.

I flicked her in the forehead. Not because I was _embarrassed_ or anything, but because I had the sudden urge to do so.

"Ah!" She yelped, holding her hands to her forehead in bewilderment. "Why did you do that Shinonome-kun?!"

I gave her a blank stare, feeling much better, and began to chuckle myself at the funny look on her face. "Just because." See, it was just a whim. Nothing more!

Sawada pouted at me and looked as if she were going to say something else when the voice of a woman cut her off. "Tsu-chan? Are you there?"

I watched as an older Sawada came around the corner to look at me and little Sawada. It was obviously her mom; what with the matching brown hair, warm brown eyes, and baby face. Ms. Sawada looked down at me in surprise before it melted off to reveal a warm smile. "Why hello there! You must be the Shinonome-kun Tsu-chan's been talking about~!"

I blinked before nodding and bowing towards the woman. "Yes ma'am. Shinonome Daiki. It's nice to meet you..." So, she talks about me at home huh?

Ms. Sawada giggled and put a hand on her cheek. "My, my such a polite young man! No wonder Tsu-chan likes you so much~!"

Sawada flinched and began to wave her hands wildly, as if trying to signal her mother about something. Amused, I watched as she ran up to her and began jumping up and down frantically.

"M…M-Mama!" She cried. "Um! S-Shinonome-kun and I are really really hungry! Can you make us some snacks _please_!"

Ms. Sawada giggled some more before nodding indulgently. "Un! Of course, Tsu-chan! Do you two want to help me out?"

Sawada sighed in relief before bashfully turning towards me. "I do, but what about you Shinonome-kun?"

I shrugged my shoulders, putting my hands back into my pocket. "Sure, why not? Be warned though, I might burn down your kitchen in the process."

"Wonderful! It's much more fun cooking together, right Tsu-chan?" Ms. Sawada smiled, turning towards her daughter who nodded in agreement. She rushed forward, pulling on my arm with strength not befitting on such a small person, and guided me to where I assumed was the kitchen. She was talking a mile a minute and I was surprised at her unusually bold and outgoing actions. Was she always this hyper?

It took only seven minutes for us to don our cooking apparel. Ms. Sawada was wearing a frilly orange apron with a heart on it and a matching scarf on her head. Sawada and mine's were similar, but with her's being pink with a cat and with mine's being blue and yellow with a cool (read, not _cute_ ) bear.

"Wah~! You two look so cute in those! Here! Smile~!" Ms. Sawada cooed before suddenly whipping out a camera from out of nowhere and snapping a few pictures. I blinked the white spots out of my eyes from the flash (my retinas, they _burn_!) while Sawada held on to my shirt sleeve with a small, red faced smile. After a few more pictures, Ms. Sawada finally put the camera away and smiled down at us once more. "Why don't we make some rice balls for lunch ne~? You like rice balls don't you Shinonome-kun?"

Rice balls? I _loved_ rice balls! They were my favorite things to eat when my family and I would go to the convenience store and get food after another of my mother's failed cooking attempts. I nodded my head enthusiastically, which prompted her to straighten up and pump her fist. "Yosh! Let's get cooking then!"

"Osu!" Sawada and I agreed raising our fist in the air. The next hour was spent with us boiling rice and making fillings for the rice balls as well as cutting out nori sheets. While Ms. Sawada was cutting some of the more knife required fillings for the balls, Sawada was preparing the simple ones like the konbu and what not while I was tasked with the nori. I was getting bored just cutting out simple rectangles, so I decided to get a bit creative. I cut out heart shapes, cat shapes, bears, rabbits, and other stuff I thought the two would like and I started to get into it after a bit. Hey, what can I say? It was fun.

"...Ah! It's a kitty!" Sawada gasped happily, staring at the cat shaped seaweed cut outs I made with a gleam in her eye. I glanced at her before going back to cutting up the bunny one I had in my hand.

"...You could have those if you want...I made ‘em for you..." Sawada looked at me in shock and I avoided her look as I felt my face grow a little hot (I was probably about to catch a cold, knowing my luck).

"R…R-Really?! You made these for me?" I nodded, wordlessly picking up another sheet. She stared at me for a few more seconds before her face blossomed into a bright smile.

"Thank you Shinonome-kun!"

"Un..."

I could suddenly hear giggling coming from Ms. Sawada, and when we turned to look at her, she had both hands on her cheeks as she swiveled in place...what the heck? "Ah~! You two are so cute together~! It reminds me of when your papa and I had our first date!"

I lifted an eyebrow in confusion while Sawada choked on her spit and began to do that weird, funny flailing thing. "HIIIEEE! Mama! What are you saying?! That’s too embarrassing, ahhh~!"

I looked back and forth between their red faces and I couldn't help but think about that saying I heard my dad say a while ago. The apple sure doesn't fall far from the tree. Man were girls weird...

Once the rice balls were made we sat at the kitchen table with glasses of apple juice for all of us. "Itadakimasu~!" We chorused before picking up our respective rice balls and dug in. It was really good, like _really_ good. It may be simple, but it was probably one of the best things I ate since _forever_!

"Food really tastes even better when you make it together, ne?" Ms. Sawada bubbled, and I couldn't help but silently agree. Maybe if I could get her to teach my mom how to cook, she'd at least stop burning down our kitchen.

* * *

**_The roof is on fire_ **

* * *

"You know…I should be upset, but really I'm just in awe at this point. This has been the third time this week and the seventh time this month Miyuki-san! Whatever insurance plan you guys have to cover all these damages must be a damn good one because every time I come here your house somehow stays standing!" A tall, gruff looking man in a fire fighter suit sighed in dry amusement as he stared down at the three of us. His name was Takano Hiroshi, but I just call him Mr. Hiroshi.

My mom, Sawada, and I were standing in front of my house which was currently in flames. We were covered in ash and smoke and my mother just stared at the older man with indifference, placing a dainty hand on her cheek. "Oh, Hiro-han~, It's so nice ta know ya care about us so much...ya wife sure is a lucky woman to be married to such a nice man..."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Miyuki-san! How did the fire start this time?!" He demanded while I raised my hand to gain his attention.

"Mom was makin' cereal for dinner." I explained, receiving an incredulous look in return.

" _Cereal?_ " He whispered in disbelief. "What do you mean _cereal?!_ It's just milk and wheat! There's no way it could've caught on fire!"

"That's what we thought..." Mom supplied offhandedly while a confused and slightly freaked out Sawada began waving her hands wildly to emphasize her point.

"I…I-It just caught on fire out of _nowhere_!” She squeaked out, looking unsettled at the memory. “Shinonome-san just poured the milk and then it suddenly burst into flames!"

"I musta used the wrong milk...silly me, teehee...♪" Mom drawled, knocking a fist to her head while sticking out her tongue.

Hiroshi-san looked at my mom in dumbstruck awe before shouting at the top of his lungs, "Don't _"Teehee!♪"_ me! This is nothing short of black magic Miyuki-san!"

"Whelp...looks like I hafta find a hotel for us to stay in tonight...don’t that sound fun to you two...?" My mom asked us, ignoring a yelling Hiroshi-san as she went to go find a phone with him following her.

"I should go call dad and tell him we're orderin' out again. What should we have...Ramen? Donburi?" I muttered as I took Sawada's hand and walked to also find a phone. She could only follow, pale faced.

* * *

**_Magical Girl Poses_ **

* * *

_“Moon Prism Power: **Make Up**!”_

Now while that wasn’t the weirdest greeting I’ve ever heard (don’t ask), it was definitely up in the top ten.

I blinked at Sawada, who was standing in the middle of her living room with her hair done up in pigtails and doing a strange pose. The tv beside her was blasting some sparkly rainbow anime that I didn’t really recognize.

“S…S-Sh…” Sawada’s face lit up like a stop light and she straightened up with a snap. “Shinonome-kun!”

“That’s my name…” I muttered, feeling both confused and amused. “Also, what in the world are you doin’?”

Sawada fidgeted with her fingers, looking to the side with a bashful smile. “Ah, er well… I was…just watching some “Sailor Moon” and-“

Ah, that’s what the anime on the tv was! I knew it looked familiar.

“-Usagi was doing her transformation and I…just couldn’t help myself but follow…along…” She covered her face, slumping down to the point where even her pigtails were drooping. “Ugh, I wanna become a mushroom~”

“There ain’t nothin’ to be embarrassed about.” I shrugged as I gave the tv a cursory glance. “Sailor Moon huh? Never seen it.”

“…”

“..?”

I could practically _feel_ Sawada go silent and when I turned to look to see what was up, she was looking at me as if I just slapped her.

“You _what_?” She whispered, downright _scandalized_. I furrowed my brows. What’s up with her?

“I said I never seen it…” The look of incredulous disappointment she gave me made me feel like a dodo bird during natural selection. She was acting like I just admitted to supporting _dog fighting_.

“You’ve _never_ seen-?” Sawada shook her head as if she just couldn’t comprehend what I just said. “I just-! I can’t-! Do you live under a _rock_ Shinonome-kun?!”

For some reason, hearing that from a dense person like Sawada felt _quite_ insulting.

“No!” I grumbled, trying not to feel as embarrassed as I did. “I just wasn’t interested. It looked kinda borin’ to me.”

“Boring? _Boring?!_ ” She gasped before stopping short. She closed her eyes with a sigh, and then opened them with a stern pout. “Sit down Shinonome-kun.”

“…Ha?” It was my turn to feel incredulous, taken aback by the uncharacteristic demand. This was the most assertive I’ve ever seen her, and it was for a silly _magical girl_ anime???

“I said sit!” She repeated, walking over to grab my arm and tug it towards the couch ( _man_ was she strong). “You’re not leaving that spot until we watch the entire first season!”

“Y…Y-You’re kidding me right?” One look at the fiery determination in her eyes said, loud and clear, that she was _not_ kidding.

“ _Sit_ , don’t move.” She nearly shoved me on the couch and I couldn’t help but obey, mostly because I was still too shocked that this was _actually_ happening to even entertain the thought not to. ”I’m gonna go get my VHS of season one and some snacks!”

And with that, she set out like a woman on a God given mission. As soon as she was gone, I slumped down into the couch with an annoyed ground. I couldn’t _believe_ this. I come over just to be subjected to _this_? So what if I hadn’t watched “Sailor Moon”? Shounen ones like “Yu Yu Hakusho” and “HunterxHunter” were _waaaay_ cooler anyway! And before you get the wrong idea, _no_ I wasn't _sulking_. That would be stupid and childish. I was just rightfully annoyed. You hear me? _Annoyed_!

Sawada came back a few minutes later with _five_ VHS tapes (that sure didn’t look like just the first season to me), a hand full a snacks, and- holy crap, were those _wands_ in her hand?

I slumped even lower in my seat. Ugh, this was going to be a _long_ day…this shit _better_ be good!

_**\---** _

_**A few hours later~☆** _

_**\---** _

**_“She is the one called Sailor Moon!”_ **

Sawada Nana had come back from errand shopping to be greeted by an incredibly adorable sight.

She beamed, watching as her daughter and her new friend were standing in front of the TV, dancing and singing to the theme song of an anime Tsuna had become obsessed with.

And, by the looks of it, it seems she got Daiki obsessed with it too if his two little pigtails and wand (the light up one she got Tsu-chan for Christmas) had anything to say about it.

The two, in perfect synchronization, struck a pose, holding up their respective weapons triumphantly. _“In the name of the moon, **I’ll punish you!/kick your ass!** ”_

“Mou, Shinonome-kun! How many times do I have to tell you that that’s not what she says!”

“Ha? But it sounds cooler like that.”

Nana giggled to herself, leaving the bickering duo alone in order to put up the groceries. She also had to go find her camera~!

_**\---** _

Okay, so _maybe_ "Sailor Moon" was a pretty damn good show. I’m still annoyed though!

* * *

**_Food of the Gods_ **

* * *

“U…U-Um? Shinonome-kun? What…what is all that stuff for?”

“To make Ambrosia…”

“…Ambroshuh?”

I looked up to see Sawada giving the items on the table a look of tentative curiosity. Toasted dorayaki patties, vanilla Ice cream, peanut butter, and bananas; all the ingredients I needed in order to make the food of the _Gods_!

“Ambrosia.” I repeated, going over to pop some more dorayaki patties in the toaster. “It’s an ice cream sandwich recipe that my dad taught me how to make.”

“Eh~?” She tilted her head, looking interested. “Really? Does it taste any good?”

“I wouldn’t be eattin’ it if it wasn’t.” I spread some peanut butter on the bread before placing it on top of ice cream and banana slices. Now complete, it was practically sparkling in its beauty~. I gestured towards it. “You can try one if you want. I already made three of these with a fourth on the way.”

“Are…Are you sure?”

At her hesitation, I slid the plate over to her. “The Ice cream’s gonna melt if you take too long.”

“Oh, well…thank you!” She smiled before reaching over to pick up the sandwich. She took a small bite, and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

“…Oh my God.” She gaped, looking as if she had seen Nirvana itself. “This is-“

“Mmhm…♪” I hummed between a bite of my ice cream sandwich, nodding in understanding. I remember my first experience of _ambrosia~_

“I…I-It tastes like how happiness _feels_!”

“Mmhm…♪”

“Just what have I been doing with my life until now?!”

“ _Mmhm…♪_ ”

Sawada wasted no time in finishing her sandwich, leaning back with her hands on her stomach and a satisfied smile. “That was really yummy Shinonome-kun!”

“Of course it was.” I nodded as I began reaching for another one. “It’s ambrosia.”

“Ambrosia huh?” She muttered thoughtfully before perking up with a smile. “You know what would really go good with ambrosia?!”

I gave her a curious look. I doubt there was anyway to make such a delicacy taste any better, but I guess I could hear her ou-

“ _Nutella!_ ”

…

“…Holy _crap_ -”

Looks like I spoke too soon.

* * *

**_This Girl is on FIRE?!_ **

* * *

_As I got to know Sawada more, I learned one thing about her that stood out in particular._

_**\---** _

"Oi, Shinonome!" Some kid called out while me and her were walking back to my house after a trip to the convenience store for some snacks (it seemed like the one thing we truly had in common was or need to devour junk food). We both turned to see some kids in our class walking up to us with smirks on their faces. Sawada squeaked in alarm and hid behind me while I scowled at the group, making them all (except the one in front) falter and step back.

"Ha? What the heck do you expired coupons want?" I demanded while the kid in front confidently stood before me.

"I ain't scared of you Shinonome! My brother taught me some of his super cool martial arts moves to take you out! Now get out of my way before I make you sorry!" He declared while pointing at me and his idiot friends behind him cheered like he was some kind of hero.

I stared at him blankly before grabbing Sawada's hand and walking away. "Come on let's go...Transformer’s comin’ on in a few minutes..."

We got a few steps away before the boy called out to us again. "Hey! Don't you ignore me!" He yelled indignantly, making me turn back towards him with an annoyed glare.

"What now?" I snapped, and he cracked his knuckles in what he most likely thought was an intimidating way.

"Now you've done it! I've warned you, but you didn't listen!" He suddenly got into a fighting stance while the group behind him began to cheer again. "It's too late to apologize now! You've pissed me off Shinonome!"

Sawada latched onto the back of my jacket tightly and I looked down to see her looking at the boy worriedly instead of fearfully. I realized with a sudden thought, that she was worried _for_ me...probably afraid that I would get hurt...

"Prepare to taste defeat, Shinonome!" The dumb ass declared, preparing to unleash his attack. "Now take this! _Dragon ki-_ "

I cut the kid's move off when I went up to him, grabbed the top of his head, and lifted him off the ground.

"...eh?" He asked stupidly, looking confused and unsure of what just happened. I could see all his friends staring at us with wide eyes I smirked at their expressions. They all looked like they were going to piss themselves.

"You should really pick your fights with people you know you could beat." I drawled as the idiot in my grasp began to sweat buckets. I grabbed him by the shirt and began to spin him around and around in a circle. I spun the kid around a few more times before letting go with hardly any effort. I watched him soar towards his friends, feeling a drum of satisfaction go through me when I saw him barrel down one of them as they both fell with an audible _"THUD!"_

"Daiki used _'Whirl'_ attack...it was super effective!" I declared, dusting my hands off before turning around and walking back to Sawada who was staring at me in complete awe. When I got in front of her, I gave her a quick flick to her forehead before bending down to pick up the bags that I put down. I ignored her yelp and her indignant look as I only looked ahead.

"Aight, let's go." Was all I said before I walked ahead of her. I didn't see what her expression was after I said that, but it only took a few moments for me to hear her hurried footsteps trying to catch up with me. I snuck a peak from the corner of my eye, seeing a happy smile on her face. I sighed...how troublesome.

Too bad the moment was ruined when an annoying voice called out again...

"OI!" The kid from earlier shouted, regaining our attention. He looked pissed and had a huge lump on his head from where he collided with his friend (who was still on the ground, passed out with a little ghost coming out of his mouth). His friends were pleading for the idiot to leave us alone and to just go home, but he refused to listen. "NO! Screw that! You thought that weak attack would keep me down, but you underestimated me!"

I turned back towards him, clicking my tongue in annoyance. What was he, a npc goon?! "Oi, oi you bubonic tick! What more will it take me kickin' the crap out of you for you to stay down?!"

The boy chuckled manically, breathing hard as if he just ran a mile. "I'll make you eat those words!" He then began to run towards us as I pushed Sawada next to me so she'd be out of harm’s way...though it's not like whatever this kid could do could be harmful...more laughable than anything.

"It's time for my secret move!" He declared as he began to jump-"Grass hopper drop kic-" or, I should say, that was what he _was_ going to do, but instead he stepped on his shoelace in the process and began to pitch forward.

"...eh?" He uttered dumbly as he fell. I relaxed almost immediately as he fell face first into the sidewalk and even almost laughed at the sight...

That is...until I noticed he fell in front of Sawada...and that the idiot had something in his hands...something that looked pink and pleated...

Oh...oh...oh _no-_

I felt my soul leave my body as I mechanically lifted my head up to look at Sawada's face. It had gone _completely_ blank in shock, as if the cogs in her brain just grinded to a halt.

The absolute _buffoon_ on the ground looked up in confusion, still dazed from his fall and focused on where Sawada's skirt was...o…o-or should I say lack thereof...

He blinked a few more times before he said one. Simple. Word.

_"...Strawberries..."_

It was deathly quiet as the only sound that could be heard were the cries of the crows above. _'Aho!...Aho!...Aho!'_ they crowed, and I couldn't help but agree with them. I watched, almost fearfully, as Sawada lowered her head with her bangs covering her eyes. She was shaking, and her trembling fist were clenched at her sides. "H..."

Hm?…I thought I heard her say something?

"H...h...h..." I looked as she suddenly took in a deep breath and I knew, then and there, that this was _not_ going to end well.

And I was right.

"...hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHH _HHHHHHH **HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**_

It was also then that I knew I was _never_ going to hear the same way ever again. Sawada screamed so loud that it shook the very _ground_ beneath us. It was like a god damn _earthquake_! Glass broke, animals were freaking out and screeching to high Heaven, and I thought I heard a car crash somewhere. We all covered our poor, poor ears as they were assaulted by the sonic wave force behind her screaming. It was like a shock wave of pure, raw energy...

Actually, you know what? That shock wave was so intense, it was hot. Like _burning hot_ , as if she was on f-

F...F-Fire? _Fire? **Fire?!**_

_**SAWADA WAS ON FUCKING FIRE!?!?!?** _

Bright orange flames seemed to burst from her like a raging inferno. Even the most Gucciest of sunglasses wouldn't be able to block out the intense heat as we all stood and watched the brilliant display in terrified awe.

My brain, recognizing that it needed a coping mechanism _fast_ , went into frantic denial immediately. Perhaps I was having a nightmare? Or maybe I was high? Or just maybe my imagination had finally gone of the deep end and beyond! After all, people couldn't just catch on fire could they? _COULD THEY?!_

Needless to say, I was a _little_ freaked out. Especially at what happened next.

Still screaming like a banshee and so red in the face I was worried she'd pass out from all the blood rush to her head, Sawada reared her leg back and kicked the stupid idiot who was still at her feet in the face. Even I cringed as I saw him fly back into his friends with a bloody nose, the force behind it akin to a firework. He bowled them down like a rocket and this time he took them all down even though he only hit the kid from earlier who _just_ managed to get up.

 ** _"NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONNONONO!KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_** She shrieked over and over again, tears rushing down her face like a waterfall and flames raising above the buildings as she she threw her hands out and- **_holy shit!_**

I still remember this exact moment to this day and I think I will until the day I die and into the afterlife. I can _not_ stress this enough people!

I watched as the flames shot out of Sawada's hands with enough force to make a blow torch jealous. The group of soon to be charred kid bacon stared at the incoming fiery pillar of death in abject horror. The one she kicked (the Pandora of this madness) sat back up and looked wearily around him.

"W...W-Wha happen~? Did I win the gold medal~?!" He slurred, looking absently at his incoming super-extra-deluxe tan (now with guaranteed three degree burns). Once his brain registered what was happening, his eyes practically popped out of his head and he and his friends screamed, running for their lives. The flames licked at their heels, but they got away just in time. Still, that didn't stop them from hauling ass, as if they were being chased by a fire breathing dragon instead.

Dumbstruck, I stared at the chaos in front of me, my jaw probably unhinged with how far it seemed to have fallen. I felt cold (ironically enough). Chilled to the bone. Was I going into shock? I'd bet good money I was.

I turned to see Sawada on the ground with her skirt (thankfully) back on and bawling like a newborn baby. The fire had died down, leaving her surrounded by a ring of scorched everything; the sidewalk, the nearby wall, somebody's car (I winced when I saw the damage. Man, I hoped whoever owned it had some _good_ insurance). People started to gather, clearly bewildered as to what the hell was happening. I also heard sirens, which basically meant that it was time to _skedaddle_.

I brushed off the soot from my clothes before cautiously walking over to Sawada, trying not to provoke her anymore. I crouched down to stare at her face before gently putting a hand on her head, tousling her hair and immediately silencing her sobs. She stilled completely before hesitatingly looking up at me from her hands. I stared at her glassy eyes and gave the most calming smile I could muster.

"Hurry up and let's go...before we miss our show..."

Sawada stared and stared and stared at me some more before the natural blush came back to her face and she gave a jerky nod, much calmer than before though still sniffing. It seems she didn't notice that she was a god damn fire bender. Hm. Aight then. I mussed her hair up some more before nodding as well and standing up. We continued on our way to my house with her talking most of the way and with me interjecting occasionally, leaving the destruction behind us.

"OH MY GOD- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY CAR?!"

Sawada looked curious about the despair riddled scream, but I just put my hand on her back and prompted her to walk a little faster.

We never talked about that incident again, and I never planned to for the sake of not only my mental and physical health, but for the rest of humanity's as well...

If there was one thing I learned that day though, it was _not_ to set off Sawada.

(And that apparently, people could actually self-combust. Neat).


	3. Book Talk and Alley Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daiki bumbles his way into making two new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or its iterations! I'm only here to entertain~

_**Chapter 3: Book Talk and Alley Fights** _

* * *

I remember my mom being over the moon when she got the call from my uncle. While she was as silent and stoic as ever, I could practically see the happy sparkles and flowers that danced around her as she was fluttering all over the place, cleaning and tidying up the house like an OCD neat-freak having an episode. I was just sitting there on the couch, trying to watch T.V, but that was a little hard to do with her twirling around like a freakin' Ballerina.

"Ugh, Mom..." I paused the show and she hummed, showing that I had her attention. "Why do you keep dancin’ and cleanin’ like a Disney Princess?"

She turned to look at me with a blank stare. She then put down her feather duster, walked over, and held me in a tight bear hug that practically snapped my spine in half.

"Dai-chan, Dai-chan..." She said, grey eyes sparkling with joy as she squeezed me tighter and tighter. "Guess what? Guess what? Go on and guess..."

"T…T-They managed to invent fire-proof houses?" I breathlessly muttered with a sarcasm that completely flew over her head.

"No. It's somethin' even better... ♪" I gave her a more genuinely curious look. My mom may have the facial expression range of an ice-sculpture and the tone of voice of Siri, but I've never seen her this happy before...

"What's goin' on?" I asked, struggling to take in sufficient breaths of air. Any tighter and I was gonna pop like a damn balloon.

"Your uncle Jirou is comin' to visit in three days..." She stated, the happy sparkles around her increasing while I looked at her in mild surprise.

Apparently, my uncle Kurokawa Jirou had decided to move from his old place in Tokyo to get away from the city life and enjoy the more laid-back suburban atmosphere that Namimori had. From the stories I heard, my mom and my uncle had been really close when they were younger, so with her having the chance to see her little brother in person after around eight years really meant a lot to her. I didn't really understand or care about it at first. After all, I'd had never met the man in my life so I was kind of indifferent to the whole situation. My mom was happy though, so it's not like I was going to complain...

"Oh Dai-chan, you're just gonna _love_ seein' ya uncle Jirou-chan...Ya remind me of him so much ya’ll could pass off as twins…♪” She sighed, holding me closer (oh god, I’m starting to feel faint. Need. _Oxygen_ ). “Oh, and he has the most _cutest_ son who's around your age... ♪ His name’s Hajime and he’s a real smart and polite young man...ain’t that excitin' Dai-chan?...you'll have a new friend to play with!"

I just nodded along, pretending to listen to her gushing. I still couldn't help the drum of annoyance that ran through me when she mentioned this so called _"new friend"_.

I considered my younger self as being a fairly mature boy, not smart of course, but still mature for the average six-year-old. So, the thought of having to "befriend" some kid I didn't know wasn't very pleasing to me. Most of the boys around my age were much too troublesome to deal with, especially since they've taken it upon themselves to challenge me to stupid duels and crap to defend their "honor" and "pride" that had been crushed after I beat them in fights. Not like those morons had any in the first place, especially since the reason why they got their asses handed to them was because they kept trying to mess with Sawada (you'd think they'd learned by now, but _no_ ~).

Anyway, the point was that I wasn't looking forward to entertaining some bratty city kid who was probably going to bitch and complain about moving to our "back-water" community. Nope, non, nein; I ain’t dealin’ with that. But, considering my mother's feelings, she'd obviously want me to get along with the kid, so I'd probably make an effort to greet him before leaving to hide out in my room or something. Yeah, that sounded like a plan...

And so time passed, and the golden day had arrived in nothing short of a few days.

It was a cool, sunny Autumn day so I decided to chill outside on a hammock that was suspended by these two large shady trees in our backyard.

I was taking a light nap (which was surprising considering I could go into a deeper sleep than a bear during hibernation) and could hear birds chirp while listening to the wind chimes in my backyard jingle softly.

It was quiet and peaceful for a few minutes until my ears perked up at the sound of our doorbell ringing. I heard my mom call out that she was coming, and the sound of her slipper padded feet before it grew silent once more.

It didn't take more than ten seconds before I could practically feel the happy music notes coming off of her. I sighed. Looks our esteemed guest had arrived.

The drawled babbles coming from my mother bleed through the walls of the house and I groaned before pulling a pillow over my head to block out all the noise, not that it helped any. I could still hear her chatting to who I presumed to be my uncle, the low-voiced grumble of a man telling her to slow-down before she ran out of breath seeming to prove my hypothesis.

They went back and forth, her talking about how happy she was to see him and him grunting and sighing responses to her rapid-fire questions. Their voices grew fainter and inaudible as they seemed to move from the hallway to the living room and I found myself relaxing a bit at the returned silence. I idly thought about the cousin my mom talked about and wonder if I still had to meet him or if he was even here. Hopefully he wasn’t. I didn’t have enough social batter to last an whole ass interaction.

With that thought, I completely relaxed and snuggled deeper into the hammock, the wind rocking the hammock back and forth, lulling me into a cat nap state. That was soon interrupted by the backdoor roughly sliding open.

 _‘Well scrap that plan then.’_ I twitched at the sound, already feeling exhausted as I opened my eyes to see who it was. Dark grey eyes met my own with a scowl.

 _'...Guess he's the cousin I'm supposed to entertain...'_ I frowned, taking in his wavy black hair, disgruntled expression, and mature fashion sense. He looked like a kid who carried himself with the air of a level-headed adult.

His eyes studied me from head to toe and the grimace on his face grew deeper the longer he stared. Great, looks like we’re off to a great start~

"Oi, monkey." Hajime grumbled, looking as if he could think of a million things he'd rather be doing now instead of talking to me (and the feeling was _very_ much mutual). "I'm guessing you're the cousin aunt Miyuki was talking about?"

"Indeed I am.” I yawned, “Guessin' you're the kid my mom asked me to play with?"

“ _Look._ ” He snapped, not looking amused at my comment as he crossed his arms (I idly noticed that he was also holding a familiar looking book). "I'm just going to cut to the chase and say that I don't want to be here. Like, _at all_. I'm not here to _play_ nor am I here to listen to your idiotic babble so I'm going to sit here and mind my own business until diner is ready and I rather you not talk to me during that time."

Wow, okay. I guess a simple _“nice to meet you”_ was too much to ask. While he definitely sounded like a douche, I could at least appreciate that he was straight to the point. Hell, he just made my day a whole lot easier and with the formalities out of the way I could _finally_ get some sleep.

“Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” At the increased intensity of his glare, I sighed in defeat before closing my eyes and flopping back onto the hammock. "But, I ain’t complainin’. You do you. I'm gonna take a nap so try not to be too loud and wake me up."

I heard Hajime huff before he walked towards the other side of the hammock where the trees were at. I also heard him settle down on the grass as well as the oddly pleasant sound of papers being flipped (must be that book he had). Silence filled the air once more and I found myself slowly going into a post-sleep trance. You know the one where you're close to passing out, but random thoughts just bounce around in your head keeping you awake? Yeah, it was like that.

Though subconsciously, I kept thinking about the book he was reading. It looked very familiar, but where had I seen it before? Damn, it was on the tip of my tongue too...I took a quick glance at the title on the cover, pleasant surprise replacing my drowsiness.

 _"Kuro neko no noroi_?” I read the Light Novel's title out loud, catching Hajime's attention. He looked surprised that I recognized the title, before his face fell back into its natural state of indifference.

"...Yeah? What about it?" He asked in suspicion and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothin'. I just happen to really like that series. That's volume six that just came out right?" I asked, and he gave me a weird look before nodding slowly. "Thought so. I had already finished that one 'bout a week ago. It was good, but I like the third volume better."

He still had that weird, confused look on his face but he did seem to relax after a bit. "I didn't ask..." He mumbled in response and all I could do was shrug my shoulders.

“I know. Just felt like saying it out loud is all.” It was silent for a few moments before I began to lay back down, sure that he was still going to ignore me. I stopped though, when he continued to speak.

"I'm…not usually into Light Novels or any of that otaku crap, but this series had caught my interest.” He mumbled, fiddling with the pages. “I...personally like Volume five better. The character development was well-rounded, and the boss fight was very impactful..."

“Really?” I turned on my side to get a better view of him. "Yeah, the fight with the Nezumi was cool and all, but I think Kagano's fight with Hell Hound was _way_ better. Especially when they got into that fist fight with each other."

Hajime raised an incredulous eyebrow at me, putting down his book and giving me his full attention. "Are you serious? The sword fight between Kagano and Nezumi was _obviously_ better! That and the battle between Mikado and Usagi behind that waterfall."

"Oh yeah? Then I guess you think the gun fight between Alfred and Canard didn't suit your taste then?" I drawled and Hajime scoffed, looking at me challengingly.

"Please, that fight was nothing to sneeze at. It was obvious how the fight was going to end before it even started. Alfred was obviously stronger than that monkey Canard and could've dealt with him _easily_."

And that's how it went for the next fews hours. We would go back and forth, talking about our personal favorite scenes and moments in the Light Novel, while trying to convince the other why they were obviously the superior ones. Then the topic spanned to other stuff that we liked, hated, or had in common. He despised Manga while I practically lived off of Shounen Jump. He was a dog person while I fancied cats (there was just something about those ears and paws that enraptured me more than any school lesson could ever hope to achieve). He enjoyed the traditional Miso Soup, Tofu, and Rice while my whole diet plan consisted of Beef, Junk Food, and Soda. Despite these differences, we surprisingly had a lot in common. We weren't good with socializing, enjoyed peace and quiet, and considered most people, specifically kids around our age, to be headaches.

After a while though, it grew quiet between us. Not the tense, cold quiet that we had unanimously settled into when we first met, but a much more comfortable one…

Hajime had moved from the grass to the hammock alongside me. We just swung back and forth, watching the clouds lazily move across the sunset dyed sky.

"...You know..." Hajime began, arms crossed over his stomach. “When dad said that I had to get along with you, I was pissed. I didn't want to waste my precious time with some childish idiot who'd try and make me do bothersome things or play games." He continued and I stared at him with curious eyes. Just what was he getting at? "Then when I saw you and I immediately knew that I was going to hate your guts."

"Geez man, I didn't know I had such a hateful face..." I muttered making him glare a bit.

"I thought that at _first_." He stressed towards the end before he looked towards the sky with a stonily. It was probably due to the light of the sun, but I thought I could see the faint traces of pink on his face. Hm, must be my imagination..."But...well, you're not as much of a stupid monkey as I thought you were...I mean, you're still pretty dumb, but not as bad as the others..."

I stared at him for a moment, a little put off, but that didn't last as I realized something. Hanging out and talking to Hajime felt like how it was when I would hang out with Sawada. Yeah, it could get tiring and aggravating at times, our personality crudely clashing…but all in all, it wasn't unpleasant.

It was then that I realized that I actually _liked_ talking to my cousin and getting to know him better. We had a lot in common and he was much more bearable to interact with than a lot of people I knew. It was...well, it wasn't _unpleasant_ and I'm guessing that I was regarded by Hajime higher than most people he knew so I guess that was a plus.

I slowly nodded at his words before looking up at the sky again. It was like a canvas panted with warm watercolors that blended in each other seamlessly (the brilliant shade of orange reminded me of Sawada)… We both went into silence for another brief period before I broke it this time. "You're not so bad yourself. I mean, you can be a prick sometimes, but you're less troublesome than others."

Hajime scowled before closing his eyes with a sigh. "Hmph...thanks...I guess?"

"Don't mention it."

After that, my mom and uncle came out to tell us that diner was ready. He was a pretty chill guy once you got to know him and he was apparently just as averse to troublesome things as Hajime and I. He also won major Daiki points when he cooked for the night instead of my mom and made a meal that could compare positively to Sawada's mom. Oh yeah, I felt that he and I were going to get along _much_ better than I thought.

After that, my mom begged my uncle to stay a little longer, and with a indulgently resigned sigh, he declared that they were going to spend the night.

I was oddly pleased and from what I could tell, so was Hajime. We decided to camp out in the living room that night and began to watch a bunch of detective movies where Hajime would find clues and come to conclusions before the actual actors themselves and I would mock him for being a nerd to which he'd reply back with a pillow to the face.

All in all, it was a surprisingly good day.

* * *

Hajime and I always hung out after that. When he transferred to our school and to my class, he, Sawada, and I would always be paired together. She was obviously anxious around him and his blunt personality didn’t help with that at all, but after a while she mellowed out to the point where she didn't think he'd lash out at her at any moment.

It was nice, the three of us just being together and I didn't really think that our group would get any bigger than that. But of course, life was unpredictable and shit happened with no warning and for no reason.

Now that I think of it though, I guess it's not surprising that I met my other friend under unique circumstances as well...

* * *

It was one of those lazy Sunday mornings. Hajime, Sawada, and I, bored with nothing to do, were just taking a stroll around the neighborhood.

Hajime was walking besides me on my left, looking at me with disgusted judgement while Sawada was on my right.

"How can you let those... _strays_ just climb over you like that? Don't you realize the diseases and parasites they most likely have?" He scolded though I wasn’t really paying attention. I would hear his lectures at least once a day, so their significance would go through one ear and out the other. Besides, I was much too preoccupied with the bundle of perfection meowing softly in my arms…and on my head…as well as both my shoulders and in my hoodie.

You see, while we were walking we happened to pass by them sleeping in the alley way and I immediately stopped all conversation just to bask in their existence. Long story short, the cats hadn't left my side since then.

Sawada giggled, looking a little bemused at the sight. "I uh, think they look cute..." She mumbled as Hajime rolled his eyes while crossing his arms, looking unimpressed

"Honestly Sawada, stop justifying his spur of the moment actions. He'll only keep doing them."

It may have been only a few months since I met Hajime, but I had already gotten used to him to the point where I could take his blunt judgement in stride without batting an eye.

"This wasn't spur of the moment, this was fate." I countered while holding the kitten in my arms closer to his face, the little guy meowing happily at the attention it was getting. "How could you be so cold hearted and ignore these cute faces? You're a demon. The Devil himself. They have a special place in Hell for people like you."

Hajime glared and looked ready to go into another round of mouth drying lecturing before a cry of pain suddenly caught our attention. All three of us perked up and looked at each other with different degrees of confusion before following where we thought we heard the sound. We had made our way to an alley, only to see a shocking sight.

There looked to be several high schoolers surrounding a boy and a girl who looked around our age.

The boy had short, bright orange hair and amber colored eyes while the girl had spiky white hair put in a ponytail and gray eyes. Both of them looked pretty banged up (the girl more so than the boy) and I would have been even more worried about them if I didn't see four of the seven boys looking just as bad, maybe even _worse_ than her, on the ground and knocked-out. Even the still conscious ones looked beaten to a pulp as they glared at her venomously.

"D…D-Dammit!" One of them (who I presumed to be the leader) grounded out, sporting a nasty black eye. "How the hell can she still be standing after all this?!"

One of the guys (who was missing a few teeth) nodded, though he looked more freaked out than the other two. "W…W-We've hit her with bats and pipes, but she just keeps getting up!"

 _‘What?!’_ I felt my jaw drop at this and I traded equally shocked looks with Hajime. Sawada gasped from behind me, her hands tightly gripping the back on my jacket. Did I hear him right? Did this chick really take down a group of high schoolers armed with weapons with her bare hands?! Holy _crap_!

One of the guys seemed to lose it completely and with a battle cry, he rushed towards the girl while raising a bat in the air.

"B…B-Big sis!" The boy fearfully cried out from where he was sitting while she clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She expertly dodged the wild swings from the guy, weaving in and out before giving him three quick jabs to the gut. He gasped from the hit and crouched down in pain, holding on to his stomach. The girl didn't miss a beat and hit the guy with a right hook to the jaw making him cry out and fall to the ground, down for the count.

“ _Damn_ …” Hajime muttered and I couldn’t help but nod, just as impressed. It wasn’t every day that you get to see someone get knocked out like that! I didn't know who the hell this girl was, but she could kick some ass.

"Shit!" The leader growled, before turning towards his friend. "Get the brat! She can't do shit if we got her brother as a hostage again!"

Though clearly hesitant on doing anything else that would warrant a beat down from the girl, the guy eventually nodded with a gulp and began to reach for her brother. He yelped at his approach and the girl turned towards him in a panic.

"KYOHEI!" She rushed over to protect him, but was blocked by the leader who was giving her a nasty smirk.

"Hey, hey! Hold on now! I wouldn't move if I was you~! Wouldn't want you little brother getting hurt now, do we?" He warned making her clench her teeth with a growl. I frowned at the thug in disgust. How pathetic was he to use a hostage to win a fight against a nine-year old girl?

Kyohei was back peddling away, whimpering for his sister to help. I felt my fist clench at the sight, being irritably reminded of the time with Sawada and those three jerks who were messing with her all those months ago. What was with people messing around with others who were obviously weaker than them? Did they think it made them look stronger? Tougher? Or did they just get some sick kick out of it? I didn't know, nor did I care.

Normally, I didn't involve myself in other people's fights and crap, but this time was an exception. Maybe it had something to do with Sawada, but I've found myself not being able to leave well enough alone and to mind my own business, especially if it involved those who couldn't defend themselves. Damn, she'd gone and made me stupid...though I can't decide if that was a good thing or a bad one.

I quickly handed the cats to Sawada, earring a startled look from her and Hajime. "Hold 'em right quick." I rushed and Hajime seemed to realize what I was going to do as he began to open his mouth to stop me.

"Wait you idi-!" But I didn't hear him finish as I began to run into the alley way as fast as I could. I saw that the older boy had grabbed onto Kyohei's arm, roughly trying to drag him up from the ground. He wasn't making it easy for him though as he was wildly trying to break free. They didn't seem to notice me which was good. Time to use the element of surprise!

"L…L-Let go of me! LET ME GO!" He demanded, frustrated, yet determined tears brimming at his eyes. The guy seemed to grow tired of his crying and raised his hand, looking like he was going to smack him.

"Tch! Dammit kid, would you just-!" I barely heard the rest as I made a running jump towards him. His eye's widened in shock, probably at the fact that I was literally flying towards him from out of nowhere. I didn't have time to entertain the thought as I slammed into the guys torso, bowling him down like a torpedo. We both fell to the ground with pained grunts, though my fall was cushioned by him.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" The leader yelled as I picked myself up, dusting the dirt off of my clothes. I glanced towards the siblings who were looking at me like I was some kind of alien. They were both worse for wear, but nothing a trip to the hospital wouldn’t fix. Now to deal with the last nuisance.

I pointed at the Leader, glaring at him with as much distain as I could muster. "You're next ya two-watt Easy Bake Oven."

"Ha~?! Who the hell are you?!" He demanded as we stared each other down (if he was trying to look intimidating, it wasn't working. He looked more constipated than anything).

"The guy who's gonna kick your ass. You feel all tough pickin' on a bunch of kids? You must be weaker than I thought." The guy snarled at my words, actually taking a step towards me.

"What the hell did you just say to me you little shi-?!" Hajime ran up out of _nowhere_ and tossed one of the cats at his face. The little guy did _not_ look amused at this and to vent its frustration, it began to claw at his face like mad, making him scream out in pain.

“You _idiot_!” Not wasting another glance at the impromptu scratch post, Hajime began stomping my way with a fierce glare. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?! Were you trying to get killed?!"

“He was gonna hurt the kid.” I shrugged, not understanding why he was so upset. Kyohei was in trouble and instead of gaping like an idiot, I helped him out. “S’not like I got hurt or anythin’, so it all worked out in the end.”

"It doesn't matter if you didn't get hurt!” He sharply poked me in the chest with every word. “The fact remains that you _could've_ been hurt! You need to start thinking things through with what little brain cells you have!"

He then launched into this long scolding session which prompted me to tune him out. Yak, yak, yak! Blah, blah, blah! Tell me something I don't know...

I turned to see Kyohei was staring at the two of us, looking like he wasn’t caught up with the situation. His sister was by his side in a flash, helping him up from where he had fallen.

"U…U-Um!" He croaked out before a pained growl interrupted him. We all quickly turned our heads to the source of the sound and saw that the Leader had finally gotten the cat off his face and boy did he look _pissed_.

"You damn brats." He snarled before quickly pulling something out of his pocket and flicking it open. I tensed as the blade of the pocketknife glinted dangerously in the dim alley. Oh you’ve _gotta_ be kidding me.

“Wah?!” Hajime and Kyohei's sister tensed as well, glaring at the guy warily while Kyohei held onto her tightly. Did this guy really bring a knife to a fight against some grade schoolers? Shit, what the hell would he have done with it if we didn't happen to pass this alley way? The thought alone was enough to make me wanna puke...

"N...N-Now I'm done messing around..." He panted, the twisted smile on his face making him look down-right demented. "If you don't wanna be sliced to ribbons, I suggest you hand over Sasagawa so she and I could have a little chat~! I'll teach her not to disrespect me and my crew!" He bit out towards the end, making my stomach churn in distaste. This guy was seriously messed in the head.

Hajime seemed to agree with me as he looked down on the teen with a look of revulsion. "First of all, it’s my crew and I. Secondly, you must be seriously dull-witted if you think that threat would work on us. You do know you can go to jail for this rig-"

" _I don't give a shit!_ " He roared, making us flinch back at the acid in his tone. He was panting, and his eyes looked feverish, almost possessed. "That bitch had disrespected and humiliated _me_! Making me look like a dumb-ass! And I just can't let this slide! I have my pride to salvage dammit!"

Kyohei's sister frowned at this, pushing and shielding her little brother behind her. "You extremely had it coming! You were trying to mug Kyohei and if you mess with him you have to go through me first!" She finished and I could hear him gasp behind her.

"Big-sis..." He frowned, tightening his grip on the back of her shirt with teary eyes.

The Leader barked out a laugh, the sound grating on my nerves. Seems this jerk just couldn't keep his mouth shut, could he?

"Aw, well ain’t that cute?" He mocked, taking a step towards us. "But it ain’t gonna stop me from gutting you all like fi-"

_BONK!_

Everything seemed to freeze. The crazy guy still had that messed up smile on his face, but he wasn’t moving towards us anymore. A few moments later, his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

And right behind him was the trembling form of Sawada, clutching a broken in half bat in her tiny hands.

 _‘What…the…hell…?’_ An awkward silence now filled the alley as we all stood there, trying to process just what happened. That was then promptly shattered by Kyohei’s sister.

“WHAT AN EXTREME TWIST!” You can say that again…

“HIIIIEEEE! Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that!!!” Sawada shrieked, looking between us and the guy in wild panic. “I…I-Is he dead?! Please tell me he’s not dead!”

“He ain’t dead…” I muttered, before giving her a thumbs up “But he’s definitely gonna have a wicked headache when he wakes up. Nice work Sawada. You came in clutch.”

I could hear Hajime sigh from besides me, face palming. "Ugh, I need some coffee…”

* * *

After that ordeal, the five of us decided to get out of the alley way before those thugs woke up. We managed to make it to a park and stopped to catch our breath. This was the most I've ran in a while and needless to say, I remembered why I hated it so much. _Screw_ using my legs man...

"T…T-That's it man...this is the _last_ time I go _anywhere_ with you! You're a damn trouble magnet!" Hajime snapped at me, hands on his knees as he panted (heh, he was even less in shape than I was).

"Hey! Don't make it seem like I enjoy dealin’ with crap like this!" I shot back with a mild glare. Trust me, if I could, I wouldn't get into these kinds of situations!

Kyohei and his sister walked closer to us, both looking worn out, yet grateful.

"U…U-Um! Thank you for helping us!" Kyohei bowed politely while his sister, seemingly unbothered of her injuries, was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Thanks for helping us to the EXTREME!" _Ow_. As if my eardrums needed any more damage done to them. I’m surprised I haven’t gone deaf at this rate.

Sawada blushed red at the gratitude while Hajime looked annoyed at her yelling. I just waved a dismissive hand. "No need to thank us. All we did was take out two guys. You were the one who did most of the ass-kickin' and I’m pretty sure your brother would've helped you out as well."

And it was true. Even if we weren't there, she most likely could've taken the other guys out one way or another. Even Kyohei probably would've helped if he gotten away from that guy in time. Though I guess you could say we made things a lot easier and saved her and Kyohei from getting hurt even more.

Kyohei looked at me in shock for a moment, as if he couldn't believe what I just said to him, before his face shadowed with…guilt? I raised an eyebrow in confusion. What’s up with him? Did I say something wrong?

"Um...well, I still want to say that we’re very grateful. Ah, by the way my name is Sasagawa Kyohei and this is my older sister, Ryoko...”

The newly dubbed "Ryoko" pumped her fist in the air, an excited fire burning in her eyes. Man, this chick was _intense_... “Nice to meet cha'! That was an EXTREME tackle by the way!" She continued, looking towards me this time.

"You gotta show me how to...how to..." She trailed off and then suddenly, without warning, she passed out mid-sentence falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes. If you'd have seen us when that happened, you'd think she'd just exploded. The four of us stared, wide eyed at her motionless form for a few beats of silence and then promptly began to freak the fuck out.

"BIG SIS!?" Kyohei shouted in fear while Sawada began to yell in panic.

“OH MY GOD, IS SHE DEAD?!’ She wailed, gripping on to her hair with bugged out eyes. “I KNOW IT! I KILLED HER! I’M GOING TO JAIL WHERE THEY’RE GOING TO MAKE ME DRINK HOT CHOCOLATE MADE WITH WATER! HIIIIEEE!”

"What the heck are you talking about?! You’ve barely even talked to her let alone hit her?!" Hajime shouted, looking confused. “Why do you keep thinking that you’ve killed someone? Should I be concerned?”

“Welp, this is a Yikes in my Nikes…” I crossed my arms, staring down at her. “If my dad sees me next to another dead body, then I’m gonna be in serious trouble. He’s definitely gonna ground me. No question.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN _ANOTHER?_!” Hajime and Sawada shouted as Kyohei frantically began to wave his hands in the air.

"T…T-That doesn’t matter right now!" He shrieked startling us into attention. "Just…just help me carry big sis home, please!” At his plea, we began to gather out composure. Right, she needed medical attention. Like, right now. There wasn’t any time to be goofing off.

“He’s right. Hajime, hurry up an carry her.” I pointed at him, much to his clear affront.

“ _What_? Why me? You’re obviously stronger, so use your gorilla strength to do it!” He demanded, but I shook my head.

“I can’t, my hands are already full.” And to show that I wasn’t lying, I held out the cats that were in my arms.

“What the- where did they came from?!” Sawada gasped, both of them staring at the cats who had come back to me safe and sound. The one who nearly scratched the thug leader’s eyes out mewled softly in my arms. What an angel~

“ _You guys!_ ” At Kyohei’s insistence, Hajime finally relented (while making sure to complain about it as much as possible) and picked up the fallen sister, holding her bridal style before we all booked it to their house

When we got to their house, we all began to frantically bang on the door and yell for someone to open it. Soon, a white-haired woman in a yellow dress opened the door with a closed-eye, sunny smile. "Yes~? Who is it?"

Mrs. Sasagawa’s smile melted off her face when she registered the sight of her unconscious and injured daughter, her ruffled and bleeding son, and three unknown kids who were equally dirty and messed up. She stared at us in shock for a few seconds before she screamed in horror, frantically pulling us inside and calling an ambulance as well as our parents.

They were almost besides themselves with worry, asking us what happened and if we were okay while also scolding us for getting hurt and promising us not to do it again. My aunt and dad, however, made sure to add in a few well-placed smacks upside the head for being reckless and doing stupid shit. _That_ sure got the message across.

A few hours passed after that and after talking to my dad and some other police officers about what happened, all of us were patched up and ready to go home. Only Kyohei and his family were going to stay at the hospital for the night in order to watch over Ryoko...

I left from the room after being patch up, feeling a bandage on my cheek that was covering a cut I got when I football tackled that guy from earlier. My dad still had to talk to with his buddies some more, so he and mom told me to go straight to where Ryoko and her family was resting and that if I went anywhere else, they’d add another week to my month-long prison sentence. Honestly, you intervene in one little gang fight and they ground you! This was _so_ unfair.

I grumbled at the injustice of it all before making my way down the hall, passing a few other patients and nurses. I returned their looks or smiles with a polite nod and continued on my way. It wasn't until I saw Kyohei slouched in a chair outside of Ryoko’s room, that I stopped.

I stared at him, noting the troubled and sad look in his eyes. The same guilty one that he had earlier...

Uh oh, this looked like the job for someone with empathy. Which I definitely didn’t have. Crap.

Should I…maybe do something? Like, talk to him? I mean yeah, he looked upset, but I _sucked_ at comforting people. Maybe I should just…walk away and leave it to his parents? Yeah. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Just as I was about to turn around and nope out of this situation, tears and snot began to slip down Kyohei's face before he buried it in his propped-up knees. God _dammit_.

I wanted to bang my head on the wall but knowing that I didn’t need to deal anymore damage to myself, I sighed and accepted my fate.

I dragged my feet towards him before plopping into the chair next to him with a huff. I could hear him let out a small yelp, clearly not noticing or expecting me to appear. I stared forward with my arms crossed in front of my chest and I could feel him staring at me in confusion and disbelief. We stayed like that for a moment until I couldn't take the silence anymore and snapped my head towards him, starling a louder yelp from him.

I took in his messy face and I could feel my frown deepen some more. I then dug into my pocket and pulled out my blue handkerchief (that my mom insisted I carry around) and handed it to him.

"Here..." I mumbled, turning to look the other way. "Take it...you got snot drippin' down your nose and it's grossin' me out..."

“…”

Nonono, no more awkward silences _please_. I irritably motioned for him to take the stupid handkerchief when he didn't. He seemed to get my hint as he took it a few seconds later. I could hear him blowing his nose and after a few moments. I gave him a side-eyed look and could see him sullenly looking down at his lap from the corner of my eye. I frowned once more. He really seemed torn up and guilty and I could hazard a guess as to why. He must be thinking about Ryoko...

"...S’not your fault." His gaze snapped from his lap to me, confusion clouding his features.

"W…W-What?"

I traced the path of a crack on the ceiling. "...I said it's not your fault...your sister choose to fight on her own to protect you...you probably couldn't have stopped her if you tried."

I didn't know why I was saying this to him. Hell, he probably didn't even care about my opinion on the matter. What would I know anyway? My sisters weren’t in a hospital bed with injuries that would make a MMA fighter wince in sympathy (plus, I knew for a fact that those witches were more than capable of taking care of themselves)...

Kyohei stared at me a bit more before his expression fell and he looked down again, this time clutching my handkerchief in a white knuckled grip.

"B...B-But it _is_ my fault..." He whispered softly, tears brimming at his eyes once more. "I...Big sis wouldn't have gotten hurt trying to protect me if I didn't get caught by those guys in the first place! They…they said they were going to get back at her for punching their leader in the face after they tried to take my money.”

I listened silently as the tears began to pick up, replacing the ones that he would wipe away in frustration. “Big sis is _always_ helping me and protecting me from bullies. My Grandpa teaches her boxing and she's really great at it! Even though she can be reckless and gets hurt a lot, she's super strong and really brave and…I really look up to her because of that. M…M-Maybe if I was stronger...if I wasn't so weak or such a scaredy cat...I could've helped protect her this time..." He finished weakly and I had a weird feeling in my chest at his words.

Though I couldn't really understand that concept of feeling so weak and helpless (after all, everyone I've ever faced at that point happened to be idiots I could easily take out with little to no problem) I could wager how frustrating it would be. Wanting to stand on your own two feet, but not being able to because you weren't strong enough...I know I’d go crazy feeling like that almost every day...especially if people who I cared about would get hurt because of it...

When I thought about that, and how much it must hurt to be in his situation, I decided on what I should say. "Then just get stronger."

At my words, Kyohei looked up again, meeting my determined stare with a surprised look.

"Wha-?!"

My gaze didn’t waver for a moment as I continued. "You said you wanted to be stronger right? To not have to rely on your sister all the time and stand on your own two feet? Well then just get stronger. Work harder. Be the man that you want to be. Be as strong as your Big sis."

"B…B-But! There's no way I can do that!" Kyohei stammered, gesturing wildly to himself. "I mean look at me! I'm small and short and have these noodle arms! There's no way I can be as strong as Big sis..."

"So what?" I countered back with a shrug "So what if you're not big or strong? Did you see how Sawada knocked out their leader earlier? She’s shorter than you and the biggest pacifist I know, but she managed to muster up the courage to break that bat over his friggin’ head! It’s like that one quote said, It's not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog. It sounds cheesy as hell, but you have to have inner strength before you start with the outside.”

“…”

“Just…don't be so hard on yourself man...you can't just be strong overnight, you gotta do it in baby steps...trust me, it'll all work out in the long run."

I sighed, my mouth feeling dry from all that talking. Hell, I was rambling for most of it, but I hope I at least got my point across to him.

"Besides," I continued, slouching back with a tired smile. "Like I said earlier, you were puttin' up a good fight against that one guy when he tried to take you hostage again. If I were you, I’d take that as an accomplishment, call it a night, and work off of that."

At my words, Kyohei's guilty expression slowly morphed into a happy, yet determined one.

"A…A-Alright!” He pumped his fist similar to how his sister did. “I...I don't know how, but I'll definitely get stronger! So I can…so I can protect Big Sis like how she protects me!"

My smirk widened at his words and I pumped my fist as well, playing along. "That's the spirit! I'll be lookin' forward to it! Heck, maybe you could help me tack care of the squeaky grocery carts who keep challengin' me to fights all the time."

“Yeah, sure! Er, I guess?” Kyohei, though a little confused, laughed happily and it seemed to light up the cold and sterile halls like the sun.

* * *

Later on, when we were all finally leaving the hospital, I heard my name being called and looked up to see Kyohei waving at me happily from one of the hospital windows. I waved back lazily and some of the cats surrounding me waved as well (These little guys just seemed to come and go as they pleased. Looks like I’ve become a single father now).

Hajime gave me a questioning look. "So, you made friends with him, huh?"

I turned to him and shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, I guess. Why? You jealous or somethin'~?"

"No, you idiot. I'll just be glad to finally have someone with common sense around. Maybe he'll be able to knock some of it into you." He replied curtly, making me roll my eyes. You can just feel the family love, huh?

“He sure was a nice boy, huh Tsu-chan?” Sawada-san smiled down at her, happy sparkles surrounding her. “You’re making cute friends left and right! Pretty soon, you’ll have your own harem~!”

“Eh? H…h-harem?” Sawada titled her head in confusion while Hajime and I traded lost looks. A harem? What the hell was that?

I could hear my dad burst out in laughter, clapping a mighty hand on to my shoulder. “Oi, Nana-san! You sure don’t sugar coat it, huh?”

“Honestly…” My uncle sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Let’s not talk about such nonsense this late at night. This day has already been tiring enough.”

My mom place a hand on her cheek. “I think it’s sweet… They’re like her knights in shining armor…♪"”

“Do you guys know what a harem is?” Sawada whispered towards us, looking completely lost as to what they were talking about.

“Beats me.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s some kind of food.”

“You think anything’s some kind of food…” Hajime rolled his eyes as our parent’s conversation went on without much of our attention.

All in all, it was a pretty crazy day.

* * *

_**Daiki's slowly making friends one mishap at a time, lol. I decided to make him related/friends with Genderbend Hana and Kyoko respectively, mostly because I have a lot of things planned with their dynamic. Plus, there's nothing wrong with putting the spotlight on the side characters~** _

_**Thanks for reading! Ciao~♪** _


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